Scythe Zipang 140mm CPU Cooler Review

The Scythe Zipang is top-down heatsink with a huge ~140mm fan on top. A series of 6 copper heat pipes make this heatsink capable of cooling down an Intel Quad Core CPU as the lowest noise levels. We put it to the test and compare its performance to 45 other popular CPU coolers.

Installation

Installation

Scythe has designed a universal mounting system for their latest CPU coolers and the Zipang does defer from this approach. By screwing a different mounting bracket to the bottom of the heatsink you can quickly switch platform compatibility.

For each platform supported (all except the AMD Socket 462 and older) the installation is tool-less, for P4 S478 and AMD 939/AM2 you can clip the heatsink into place without removing the motherboard. The S775 Intel bracket uses the same push-pins as the Intel reference heatsink; due to the design of the Zipang though you’ll most likely need to remove the motherboard to be able to access the push pins.

If you decide to use another fan on the Zipang Scythe recommends to order separate clips as using the included one bends them out of shape in order to secure a 120mm fan:

With a 140mm on top the Zipang dominates any mainboard, we’re using a standard ATX sized board, but this unit dwarfs even E-ATX boards.

You can change the orientation of the heatsink in 45° to make it fit on your mainboard, the Asrock northbridge cooling didn’t pose any problems as there was enough clearance:

Weighing in at 800+gram with the fan included it’s quite a heavy unit to install using the plastic push pins, if you’re moving your case around, either lay the case flat or remove the cooler to prevent any issues.

Inside our Antec Sonata 2 test case it surely was a tight fit, with only a few millimeters to spare at 2 sides.